THOMAS Y. BOSTON. In tracing back the ancestors of the Boston family, the great grandfather of Thomas Y. Boston is supposed to have been born in Germany and upon his arrival on American Shores settled in Virginia where his son, James Ewell Boston, the grandfather of Thomas Y., was born, reared and married. He became one of the pioneers of Greene County, Ky., and there spent the remainder of his days in tilling the soil and fighting the Indiana and the British in the War of 1812, in which he took a prominent part. His son, James Boston, was born in Virginia, prior to their removal westward, and on Blue Grass soil he received his rearing and such education as could be had at that day, which was by no means of the best. He was married there to Miss Biddy Slinker, who was also born in the Old Dominion and was taken by her parents to Kentucky when she was a child. After their marriage they resided for some time in Greene County, after which they moved to Hart County and from there came by wagon to Greene County, Mo., in 1856, locating on a small partially-improved farm one and one-half miles west of Cave Springs, where they spent the rest of their lives. Mr. Boston died in 1887 and Mrs. Boston in 1871, both having for some time been members in good standing of the Christian Church. Mr. Boston was a life-long farmer and being industrious and intelligent, he accumulated a comfortable competency, amply sufficient to meet all the requirements of himself and family. He was a Republican in politics, but was quite conservative in his views. The maternal grandfather of the subject of this sketch, Christopher Slinker, died in Metcalf County, Ky., in 1876, having been a farmer and mechanic by occupation. He was of English descent and be and his wife, who also died in Kentucky, became the parents of five children: Murphy, who died in Hart County, Ky.; Lemuel, who also died there; Biddy (Mrs. Boston); Amaryllis, wife of Edmund Galloway; Fannie, who died in Kentucky. Mr. Thomas Y. Boston received such education and rearing as usually falls to the lot of the youth reared on a pioneer farm. During the warm months his days were spent in falling timber and in general farm work, but at the age of seventeen years, in 1853, his birth having occurred in Hart County, Ky., June 24, 1836, he left home to make his own way in the world and went to Clinton County, Mo., where he spent three years working on a farm. In 1857 he returned to Greene County and began farming in Cass Township, and here, in 1861, he married Nancy, daughter of William and Matilda Killingsworth, who were natives of North Carolina and Tennessee, respectively. The father was taken by his parents to Tennessee in his youth, where he lived until 1839, when be came by ox team with his family to Greene County, Mo., being nearly two months on the road. He located on what is now Section 1, Boone Township, the country at that time being rough prairie land, and here he made a fine farm on which he contentedly spent the rest of his days, dying in 1866, and his widow in 1886, both having been members of the Baptist Church of many years standing. Mr. Killingsworth was at one time sheriff of Monroe County, Tenn. James McClure, the father of Mrs. Killingsworth, came to Polk County, Mo., from Tennessee in 1839, and here died prior to the Civil War. To Mr. and Mrs. Killingsworth a family of twelve children were given: James, a farmer of the county; Margaret Ann, the deceased wife of William Hamilton; William A. John (deceased); Mary, widow of Hughey Gilmore, of Dade County; Alfred, of Texas; Bennett, of this county; Nancy (Mrs. Boston); Robert, of this county; Oliver, also a farmer of Greene County, and two children that died in infancy. Mr. Thomas Y. Boston lived on the old home farm until 1864 when he removed to his present farm, purchasing 240 acres, which he has succeeded in increasing to 1,247 acres, but has given considerable to his children, and now has 821 acres in different farms, all in Cass Township. He received a small inheritance from his father's estate, but the bulk of his property has been acquired through his own efforts. His land is some of the finest and most productive in the county, and it is handsomely and substantially improved with excellent buildings. He is a prominent member of Nicholas Lodge, No. 435 of the A. F. & A. M. at Willard, and he and his wife have been members of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church for thirty years. Mr. Boston, is one of the following children: Abner, who died young in Kentucky; Mary, wife of Hayden Taylor, of Lebanon, Mo.; Reuben, of Oklahoma; William, of Oregon; Thomas Y.; Elizabeth, wife of S. P. Collins, of Cedar County; James, of Cedar County; Martha, who is the deceased wife of John Kime; Emily, wife of David Elam: George, of Oklahoma, and Sarah Ann, who died in 1862.
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